West Monroe bolsters M&A arm with acquisition of Waterstone
Business and technology consultancy West Monroe Partners has acquired Waterstone Management Group, a consultancy for private equity and tech firms.
The US private investment market is currently booming, with robust fundraising, strong exit markets, and attractive returns spurring on mergers and acquisitions activity. According to stats from Pitchbook, private equity’s share of M&A activity from 2010 to 2015 was about 25%, but has grown to more than one-third in 2018.
Waterstone is one of the many management consulting firms helping private equity firms with its M&A strategy. The firm, which also supports technology companies, provides further services in business strategy, operations, cloud transformation, and customer success. Founded in 2003, the Chicago- and San Francisco-based consultancy has to date impacted more than $8 billion in enterprise value.
West Monroe Partners has bolstered its M&A practice with the acquisition of Waterstone, annexing additional capabilities in pre-close diligence, as well as post-close value creation capabilities in growth strategy and operations. The transaction will boost West Monroe’s M&A team by approximately 15%, and its San Francisco office employee count by nearly 40%.
Waterstone managing director Dhaval Moogimane will join West Monroe’s San Francisco office as a director, while managing director Neil Jain will join the Chicago office as a director.
“West Monroe continuously evaluates opportunities to serve our clients better and this stood out as an outstanding fit in terms of culture, leadership, and market capabilities,” Matt Sondag, managing director and national leader for West Monroe’s mergers and acquisitions practice, said. “It immediately adds new service capabilities in growth strategy and operations improvement, as well as deepens our expertise in the software space, which currently represents one-third of our transaction volume.”
The full-service consultancy currently has more than 1,100 professionals in nine offices across the continental United States. The firm has further international reach through its global alliance with BearingPoint Europe and Grupo ASSA.
“Now more than ever, private equity firms and corporate investors are seeking partners who bring deep industry expertise along with a wide breadth of services to realize their investment thesis. West Monroe has both expanded its capabilities and deepened its expertise with this acquisition," Sondag added.
Related: West Monroe Partners plan to grow Chicago office to 1,200 consultants
